Past Newsletters

We're home from a very refreshing four days in Knoxville, Tennessee with the entire Forge America team. Tennessee was wonderful (the fact that it was 30 degrees cooler when we arrived than it was in Sacramento was definitely a bonus). And the whole Forge Knoxville crew has the skill of hospitality mastered.

We talked with all of the other hub leaders about things that have been helpful, and we came back with a few new ideas we will be running by our leadership team here in Sacramento. A lot of this centered around the idea that we need to be open to new ideas and possibilities in the way we help Christians live on mission.

One of the possibilities that really grabbed our attention was the idea of offering a level of training with a lower commitment level than a 6-month residency. Some of the other hubs have been experimenting with ideas like a monthly luncheon or happy hour for those who want to keep learning about missional practices but aren't able to commit to a full residency.

If that sounds like Something you might be interested in, would you let us know?

Our goal is to see a movement grow in Sacramento. For some people, the residency is the best way to propel them into mission. But, we want to make sure we are developing and offering other alternatives as well.

If you have other ideas, we'd love to hear them.

We have a few to start with, but we'd much rather hear what would be best for you.....from you.

We also talked a lot about the benefits that can come from partnering with others who have similar goals with different skills. At Forge Sacramento, our specialty is primarily helping Christians live on mission in their everyday lives. In the last few months we've been working to develop partnerships with churches, schools, and other organizations that have different specialties and resources than we do. And, the other leaders we talked with said they are beginning the same process and encouraged us to do more of that.

So, we've asked before, but please feel free to help us connect with others if you think there could be a valuable partnership.

Thanks again, and it's good to be home!Joe and Sarah (and the whole Forge Sacramento Team)

P.S. We had a chance to spend some time with Hugh Halter, and he is excited to join us for Staying Is The New Going on September 30! If you haven't had a chance to purchase EARLY BIRD TICKETS (for you and your team if you have one), make sure you do that before the prices go up.

The only reason Forge Sacramento is able to do the work we do in training men and women to live as missionaries in Sacramento is because of our generous donors. If you would like to support this ministry, please click the link below.

We’re preparing to leave for Knoxville tomorrow, so we’re going to keep this one pretty short. We’ll be spending the weekend strategizing and making important decisions with the whole Forge America team, including leaders from every hub in the United States, Alan and Deb Hirsch, Michael Frost, Hugh Halter, and a bunch of other great people.

On our way home (as we fly across the country), we’ll put together an update for you so you can be the first to hear about some of the things that will be coming out of Forge in the near future!!

For now, we just want to give you a quick financial update. Many of you on our email list are currently providing financial support to Forge Sacramento, or you have done so in the past. And, we want to make sure you know how appreciated you are!

When we stepped in to lead Forge Sacramento in January, funding was something we knew we needed to work on, but it wasn’t a high priority yet.

Our leadership team decided it would be too rushed to try to throw together a residency for 2017, so we didn’t need to worry about the expenses associated with that. And, we made the decision to focus our energy during the first half of the year on developing relationships and building partnerships with local churches and colleges.

Now that the first half of the year is coming to a close and those partnerships are growing, we’re excited about the possibilities.

But, it’s time for us to put some more effort into fundraising.

As we mentioned before, we have Staying Is The New Going coming up on September 30th, and there are a lot of expenses that come along with holding a big event like this.

Additionally, our leadership team will begin finalizing some plans to roll out a new Residency program in January, 2018, and we want to make sure everything is just right.

We’re putting together some videos and other promotional things to make sure Sacramento knows we’re here to serve them, and that stuff can get expensive.

In order for Forge Sacramento to do all the things our leadership team has planned, we need to be bringing in about $7,000 per month. As of now, we’re nowhere close to that number. But, we are confident that God already has a plan to get us there.

Would you pray and ask God about supporting Forge Sacramento?

We are convinced of the importance of the services Forge Sacramento provides, and we hope you will consider joining us in whatever way you can as we train men and women to live as missionaries in their neighborhoods.

Thanks again for all of your support!Joe and Sarah (and the whole Forge Sacramento Team)

P.S. Keep your eye out for next week’s update, because we want to share a story with you that demonstrates the true heart of what Forge Sacramento is all about!

The only reason Forge Sacramento is able to do the work we do in training men and women to live as missionaries in Sacramento is because of our generous donors. If you would like to support this ministry, please click the link below.

For the last few weeks, we’ve been giving you updates about what Forge Sacramento has been up to so far in 2017. If you think you’ve missed any of those updates, you can see them all here. This week, we decided to change things up a bit, though.

Did you know that we (Joe and Sarah) published a book in 2016 that was highly inspired by our connection with Forge Sacramento? It’s called Bless Like Jesus: Stop Trying to Convert and Simply Show People They Matter.

In the book, we take you through a step-by-step process to develop the habit of blessing people by:

Following Jesus’s example in the way he interacted with people everywhere he went

Showing you how to improve your ability to recognize needs and opportunities to bless every person you interact with

Helping you identify more ways your skills and possessions can be used to bless people now

Creating a plan to actually bless people every day and preparing you to stick with it

Giving you the necessary tools to turn blessing people into a lasting habit you can pass on to others

If you haven’t already read the book, we have attached the first 3 chapters to this email free!

It's broken down into 4 sections, and designed to be worked through over the course of 4 weeks. So, the first chapters make up the first week.

Even on our own website, we don’t give away this much of the book, but we want to thank you for being connected with Forge Sacramento. Your support and prayers are what keep this ministry going, and we want you to know we appreciate you.

We hope you will take the time to read these chapters. the file is attached to this email! Don’t worry, they’re pretty short. And, let us know what you think! You can find out more about the book on our personal website here

That’s all for now, but we’ll have another update on how Forge Sacramento is doing next week!

For the last few years, we’ve flown top-notch speakers into Sacramento to provide training and encouragement to our residents, our team, and the Sacramento Area. If you haven’t made it to any of these events, then you’ve missed some amazing speakers, including:

Well, this year, we’re stepping things up a notch!

On Saturday,September 30, 2017, we will be putting on an event called Staying Is The New Going. This will be a full day (tentatively 9:30-4:00) of encouragement and training from Christian leaders who live on mission in their contexts every day.

We are expecting 300-400 attendees from churches across the Sacramento region, and we are excited to see what God will do. Our goal is to see those 300-400 Christians walk away from this event at the end of the day motivated to begin living as missionaries in their own neighborhoods. And, after hearing from all of our speakers, they will be fully equipped to begin that process as soon as they get home!

First Baptist Church Sacramento will host this event in the heart of Midtown Sacramento, and we have already confirmed 4 of our speakers. We’ll give you more details as the event draws closer, but we wanted you to be the first to know who our main speaker is.

Our main speaker is the National Director of Forge America.He has written numerous books to help Christians understand our calling to live like Jesus. You can see some of his books here as well as a short video.He recently joined Mike Breen as a keynote speaker at Liberty University’s Missional Living Conference in February.

Our main speaker is none other than Hugh Halter!!!

After leading a network of incarnational communities in Denver for more than a decade, Hugh and his family recently moved to Alton, Illinois to begin again. And, he will be teaching us through his experiences in all of these areas. Helping us recognize ways we can partner with God and live as missionaries where he has already placed us.

More details will be coming soon, but we wanted to give you a chance to get tickets to this event before anyone else. Tickets at the door will be $35 or $40 dollars, and we do expect to sell out. But, since we haven’t started promoting the event to local churches and colleges yet, we are giving those of you on our mailing list an early discount!

If you already know this is an event you just have to attend, then you can buy tickets now for you and whoever you want to bring with you for $25 each. That’s $10-$15 less than we’ll be selling tickets for on the day of the event! But hurry, because this email is going out to our entire list, and we only have 100 tickets at this price. Click the button below to get your tickets now!

TRAINING MEN AND WOMEN TO LIVE AS MISSIONARIES IN THEIR NEIGHBORHOODS

Hi Friend!

Joe and Sarah here again!

Last week we promised we’d share a story with you to give a tangible picture of the heart of Forge Sacramento. So here’s a quick snapshot of the relationship that has developed between us and our neighbor, Dan.

Dan describes himself as an agnostic Jew. He grew up keeping kosher (his parents still do), but he is only Jewish by heritage.

When we first moved into the neighborhood, word got out pretty quickly that we were “church planters,” and this concerned Dan (as well as some other neighbors). The neighbors were worried that this new family would be pushy with our faith and judgmental about everything.

Dan shared this concern with us after we’d been living in the neighborhood for a little over a year, and we were a bit surprised. But, that wasn’t all he had to say about the subject as we sipped wine and all the neighbor kids roasted marshmallows over the firepit in our front yard. He followed up by ensuring us that we were nothing like they expected. He described some ways the neighborhood had improved as a result of us moving in, and told us he was really glad we had moved in. This comforted us, but it opened our eyes to the way Christians are often viewed by those in their neighborhoods.

A few months later, on our way home from a wedding, we said hello to Dan and his wife as we walked past their open front door, and they invited us in. As we sat talking into the evening, the topic of religion came up. And, after they asked us a handful of questions about our beliefs and some advice about things going on in their lives, Dan said this:

I’m not a religious person. And, you know I’m never coming to any of your church stuff, right? But, if I ever have a friend who is interested in that kind of thing or has questions, I’m sending them to you.

— Dan

He continued to tell us about how all the other Christians he had met only hung around long enough to determine if they were going to be able to convert him or get him to go to church with them. And once they realized that wasn’t going to happen, he never heard from them again. He told us how much it meant to him that we continued to have a close relationship with them, regardless of our different beliefs.

Dan is now one of our closest friends, and his daughter is like a sister to our sons. And we know the Holy Spirit is working in their lives.

The reason we decided to share this story with you is because it’s not like the stories we usually hear from missionaries and church planters.

The stories we normally hear are those of miraculous conversion and immediate repentance. But that’s not always how God chooses to work in our different contexts. Sometimes, God uses us to help people move incrementally closer to him...slowly.

Dan has not broken down and confessed faith in Jesus Christ. But, we’ve only known him for a few years, and we’ve seen him move dramatically closer to God. When we first met him, he didn’t want anything to do with Christians or the church. Now, he asks questions about how our “church stuff” is going, and he has gotten to know many of our Christian friends who come to visit. He is monumentally closer to Jesus now than he was when we first met, even though he still wouldn’t even make the list in most evangelism statistics.

That’s what makes Forge Sacramento different. We recognize the value in all the little baby steps that might eventually lead to faith in Jesus Christ. And we listen carefully to the Holy Spirit to find where he is already at work around us so we can join him.

We hope this story is encouraging to you. We hope it can serve as a reminder that we are serving and working alongside God every time we engage with those in our neighborhoods. And we hope you will take some time this week to embrace a neighbor who does not yet know Jesus. Not so you can convert them. But so you can be a light in their life. And so Jesus can shine through you to them.

Would you do us a favor? If you have a story similar to ours, would you please share it with us? You can respond to this email, or you can share it on our Facebook page. But, either way, we would love to be encouraged by you!

Thanks again for being here!Joe and Sarah (and the whole Forge Sacramento Team)

This week, we want to share some of the things we've been doing to develop partnerships with local churches, schools, and other organizations. And, we'd love your help if you think you could help us build a partnership with your church or an organization you are connected with.

One thing Forge Sacramento has done since the beginning is seek ways to serve churches. Some of the ways we have served churches include preaching sermons on Sundays and putting on special training sessions.

It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.

— Napolean Hill

Forge Sacramento has also been served by local churches over the years. Some churches have chosen to financially support us through one-time gifts and through monthly donations. Others have provided volunteers to help staff events or work on particular jobs for us. And, some churches have opened up their spaces, allowing us to hold events there without incurring the extra cost of renting a venue.

Additionally, a few churches have chosen to sponsor one or more of their staff members in our Missionary Formation Residency. The leaders who go through the training have then taken the things they learned back, and been able to integrate them into the life of their church.

People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society.

— Vince Lombardi

These are the kinds of partnerships we're hoping to develop with more and more churches this year. We've had meetings with a lot of local pastors, and the responses have been good. But, decisions like this tend to take time in most churches. So, if you think a partnership with Forge would be good for your church, it's not too late! If you respond to this email, we can start that conversation today!

We've also had conversations with some local Christian college administrators and faculty. These conversations are still ongoing, but we are working to figure out the best way to integrate the training Forge has to offer with the curriculum in these schools. We're optimistic that we will find a solution that will allow students to earn college credit by participating in a Forge Residency, and we'll definitely keep you posted on this! And, if you have a connection with any of the local Christian colleges that you think might be helpful, please let us know!

Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success

— Henry Ford

Our goal here is to serve local churches and to build partnerships that will allow Forge Sacramento to have a greater impact on the Sacramento area. These partnerships will allow us to join together with churches to help their congregations see their neighborhoods as mission fields. And to equip those Christians to engage with their neighbors as missionaries.

If you have any ideas about partnerships or if there's somebody you think we should be talking to, please don't hesitate to let us know! As always, you can reply to this email, and we'll get right back to you.

Thanks again for being with us on this journey!Joe and Sarah (and the whole Forge Sacramento Team)

P.S. Keep your eye out for next week's update, because we want to share a story with you that demonstrates the true heart of what Forge Sacramento is all about!

The only reason Forge Sacramento is able to do the work we do in training men and women to live as missionaries in Sacramento is because of our generous donors. If you would like to support this ministry, please click the link below.

So, with that transition occupying much of our time and that of our leaders, we decided it would not be wise to try to squeeze a Missionary Formation Residency into this year. Instead, we have been focusing our efforts on some other key aspects of what Forge Sacramento does.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll send you some quick updates about what we’ve been up to. We’ll share some of the things we’ll be doing to better serve you and your church. And we’ll share some ways you can join with us.

For now we simply want to share a huge piece of our vision with you:

Our vision is to see every neighborhood in the Sacramento Area inhabited by trained missionaries helping all people to recognize God’s Kingdom and enjoy communion with Jesus Christ

If that’s something you want to be a part of, then stick with us. And, feel free to reply to this email if you have any ideas or ways you’d like to help. Or, even just to say hi!

Shalom!Joe and Sarah (and the whole Forge Sacramento Team)

The only reason Forge Sacramento is able to do the work we do in training men and women to live as missionaries in Sacramento is because of our generous donors. If you would like to support this ministry, please click the link below.